Why I decided to limit my services

My graphic design career started in 2015 when I first started making greeting cards which expanded to wedding stationery, then art prints, then small one-off projects for companies like quick logo designs, brochures, name cards, social media banners…. you name it, I did it. The thing is that I’m self-taught and have always felt like taking on any and every design challenge would help legitimize my business (and make me feel less like an imposter). After many years of working this way, however, I’m here to say it actually resulted in the opposite.

After recently returning from maternity leave, I’ve taken some time to strategically consider my business and relaunch with limited services and offerings, and here’s why:

Less is more

We’ve all heard the age-old adage less is more. It’s true, friends. By narrowing down my services - offering less in terms of what design I provide, I’m able to bring more to the table for my clients. If I continued to take on smaller projects here and there, not only would my work be scattered amongst different and sometimes unrelated tasks, but I’d also have less time to spend on deep-diving into what’s really important for my clients: creating meaningful brands that get results.

Clarity and focus

Simplifying what I offer helps bring clarity and focus to my business. It was probably confusing for people to understand what kind of work I did before. Was I a greeting card designer? Did I specialize in wedding stationery? Did I simply work on smaller, digital tasks? Limiting my services has helped make what I do crystal clear to potential clients and has also helped me to stay focused on work I love the most.

Cultivating expertise

Malcolm Gladwell said that to become an expert in a field, you have to practice for 10,000 hours. I’m continually searching ways to improve myself and my business. What better way than simply doing the work? Now since every project I take on is branding related, I know that all my work and energy will help broaden my knowledge and bring me closer to being an expert in my field.

Streamlined process and workflow

By offering only one service, broken up into two different packages, I'm able to streamline my process and be more efficient in my workflow. When I said yes to every little thing that came my way, I was often scattered and wondering where to start, how to finish and keeping up in between. Now I have one streamlined process that looks the same from client to client. And my workflow follows a similar path for each and every project.

Builds trust

The more experience you have, the more trustworthy you become. All the above benefits of limiting my offerings help clients gain trust in me, my work and the entire design process. And at the end of the day, isn’t that the most important thing?